


Next

by JollyCat



Category: Grimm (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-27
Updated: 2016-09-27
Packaged: 2018-08-18 05:56:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,702
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8151397
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JollyCat/pseuds/JollyCat
Summary: The final scene of season 5 - what happens next? One thing's for sure, it's not what either of them expects.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [shadowolfhunter](https://archiveofourown.org/users/shadowolfhunter/gifts).



There are three men - three who are alive anyway, plenty more who are dead - in the dingy warehouse loft. There's no way out that Nick can see so finally this is it, he's going to die. He's sure he's nearly died once already today, can still feel the warm wetness on his shirt, smell the iron tang of blood. Maybe that's why he doesn't feel scared as Conrad Bonaparte woges, feels no fear even as the Zauberbiest reaches out his hand and the pressure builds round his throat, as he feels himself forced backwards. He feels kind of worried for a moment, because what if this isn't really the end, what if that damn stick keeps healing him and Bonaparte keeps killing him? That doesn't sound like fun. But the gloomy room is going dark around him and what he mostly feels is sad because this wasn't how he ever thought it would end. The darkness is closing in and he won't see his son again, or his friends, won't see Adalind, won't ever make it right with Renard. Nick would like to be able to see Renard, because he hates him, _hates_ him for what he's done and yet here, now in this last second he'd like to look at his face one more time. But the crushing grip on his throat is too great, his body bent back too far and the darkness is too overwhelming. This is it, the end.

Except it isn't.

Now there are two men - Conrad Bonaparte, dead at their feet, no longer matters. Renard looks at the bloody sword, looks at Bonaparte for a moment but then his eyes lift to meet Nick's. They look at each other for what is probably a few seconds but feels hugely elongated: days, weeks, months of standing there, unspeaking. Nick can't entirely read the expression on the other man's face but he looks confused, uncertain. He's still holding the sword (and this is Renard, of course he'll know how to use a sword) so Nick's sure he should be thinking of something to say, some tactic to get away, maybe even a way to overpower him, because hell, he's said enough times he doesn't trust Renard anymore and the man has a _sword_ for fuck's sake. Instead his mind seems to be sparking in the oddest directions. Perhaps it's being shot or being healed, maybe it's whatever Bonaparte did to him, perhaps it's because his brain was starved of oxygen but all he can think is he wanted to see Renard before he died, that he wishes Renard was still looking out for him, there for him. Nick's Captain. And his other thought, the most ridiculous of them all, is that damn, but Renard looks amazing all in black.

Renard is still looking at him, the sword dangling and Nick can see him trying to compose his face, almost see the barriers being rebuilt. He's watching him so closely he sees Renard swallow, the bob of his Adam's apple. He's going to say something and Nick is suddenly scared that whatever Renard says this strange moment will end. End badly. How can they possibly resolve this, all that's happened, all that's been said and not said?   
"Perhaps we should just hug it out."

Nick sees the ripple of surprise on Renard's face. Nick can't believe he just said that himself, those ridiculous words. He must really be losing it. But he's caught Renard's attention at least.  
"Hug it out? Nick, what are you talking about?"  
"You know. Hug it out - not fight, not talk. Hug."  
Renard looks as confused as Nick has ever seen him, which is maybe understandable. He couldn't have come up with a better way to throw Renard off balance if he'd tried for a week, and he's given himself the perfect moment to run or attack. It's almost funny - except that Nick is suddenly certain that he doesn't want to do either. He takes one cautious step towards Renard.  
"Hug? I don't..., nobody ever..."  
Nick takes another step. One more - has to step across Bonaparte for this one but he doesn't even look down. This is so absurd and yet Nick keeps moving, even though Renard is still holding the sword and the next step takes Nick into easy reach. The bigger man is looking more startled by the second. Has anyone actually hugged him in years? Diana maybe has, a child hugging her father but has anyone touched him for support or comfort or just to show they cared? Nick has just once - he remembers the night they drove out Jack, remembers holding Renard's hand, the feel of the strong bones and still-warm skin. He takes another step, close to Renard now, very close - touching distance.  
"Yeah, hug."  
And he reaches round Sean's waist and steps right up to him, against him. The sword clatters to the floor.

Well, this is not how he expected things to go. Never expected to be this close, the scent of leather and the warm spice of Renard, the man actually standing in Nick's embrace, however rigid and tense he may be.  
"You have to hug back."  
Renard makes several small sounds, the start of sentences he has no words to even begin, never mind complete and then his arms come up very cautiously, very uncertainly around Nick. And suddenly they are hugging, holding, not just passively standing in each other's arms but clinging on like the other man is the only thing that matters.

Nick holds and is held and despite the sheer unlikeliness of it all, despite what this man has done, despite the list of reasons to hate him, it feels...right. The hard muscle beneath his hands, the cheek resting against his hair, it feels more than right, it feels good. But there's a tension creeping back into Renard.  
"I knew Conrad wanted you dead and I did nothing to stop it."  
"Until you killed him that is."  
Renard draws a breath and Nick can feel him inhale, the movement of the body beneath his palms.  
"I'm not sure that was entirely my decision. Diana has ways to make what she wants happen."  
Nick considers this,  
"And are you regretting it? Killing Bonaparte?"  
"Not precisely at this moment."  
Nick smiles against Renard's collar, remembers,  
"You died trying to help me once, at worse we're even. And however it happened you just saved me again."  
"I've taken your family, your son. Claimed Kelly as my child alongside Diana."  
Nick wonders if Diana wanted a family with a brother as well as a mother and a father, just how much this scarily powerful girl has influenced things. He says firmly,  
"And Kelly will be back with me as soon as possible."  
"And Adalind?"  
"Adalind is...complicated."  
"Isn't she always? But she does care about you. More than I thought possible."  
Nick shifts in Renard's arms, forces sternness into his voice,  
"We're supposed to be hugging not talking."

They stand in silence another moment but Renard is close to pulling away and Nick's not ready to let go just yet. He moves his hand, holds just a little tighter. Sean speaks, a touch of anger in his voice,  
"Why? Why are we doing this? You've barely been able to meet my eyes for the last year, since... since I killed those women. Now we're doing...whatever this is."  
Nick thinks again about holding Renard's hand in the Spice Shop. Renard was unconscious at the time of course, the faked death of the Dead Faint and although Nick drew comfort from that action Renard got none. How can he show Renard now, all this time later? Nick turns his head just slightly, presses his face closer, mouth brushing Renard's jawbone. Maybe it's a kiss, maybe it isn't, Nick's not sure himself. Whatever it is it's enough because Renard's hands are holding him close again.

It can't last, this moment of peace. The elevator rumbles into life and the two men are instantly alert, moving apart with the speed of a Grimm and a Zauberbiest and facing the elevator door. The monitor screens are out of course, no way to tell who is coming up.  
"Monroe?" Renard asks questioningly.  
"Could be. Could be full of Black Claw."  
A hint of a smile lifts a corner of Renard's mouth,  
"With your actions tonight and Conrad Bonaparte dead I don't think there's enough of Black Claw left in Portland to fill an elevator."  
Nick glances at him. A cynic would say that's why this sudden reconciliation, why Renard would throw his lot in with Nick again. A cynic would say that rather than gamble on physically fighting with a Grimm, Renard would take the option that got him away to plot his way to power another day - even if that involved the indignity of close physical contact. Nick is sometimes selfish, sometimes thoughtless, sometimes so thrown about by the life he lives he overlooks people who are important to him. But he's not cynical. And Renard had enjoyed Nick's touch.

The elevator contains not just Monroe but also Rosalee, Hank and Wu, all armed to the teeth (or in Monroe's case armed with teeth as he appears red-eyed and fully woged). There are a few moments of confusion and Nick moves in front of Renard, just so no one gets carried away. None of them can deny the undoubted proof of Conrad Bonaparte's dead body though, the fact that at that key moment Renard saved Nick, however it happened. Nick knows this is only the beginning: peace is not going to be easy, not with all the complications of recent events, Adalind and the children, Meisner's death. But they've taken the first step.

It's as they're all leaving the warehouse to head out into the wreckage left by the night's events that Monroe leans in.  
"What the hell really happened in there? Did you fight? Talk?"  
"Oh no -”, Nick smirks slightly, "- we just hugged it out."

Whatever the future holds, whatever the complications it's worth it for the shared glance with Renard, the surprising flash of a genuine smile. That and the totally, truly, amazingly astounded expression on Monroe's face.

**Author's Note:**

> The idea of them hugging comes from the cast interviews at the San Diego Comicon - unfortunately not very likely in canon so I had to make it happen.


End file.
